GEORGE TOWN, Dec. 21 -- A centuries-old Malay village in Air Itam, home to one of Penang's earliest Islamic scholars, may soon be gazetted as a heritage village - preserving a key piece of the state's cultural history.

At the heart of the 'Kampung Melayu', stands the white-walled Makam Sheikh Omar, a grand mausoleum with a square tower rising 35 feet (10.7 metres) high, long described as the largest and 'most handsome' Muslim tomb in Penang.

The mausoleum is the resting place of Sheikh Omar Basheer Al-Khalidy, one of the early imams of Masjid Jamek in Acheen Street - also known as the Lebuh Acheh Mosque - in George Town in the 1800s.

According to an article in the Penang Heritage Trust's November 1988 newsletter, Sheikh Omar introduced...